It is a problem to reliably provide electric power to power-consuming accessories which are mounted on a weapon in an environmentally hostile environment. The typical adverse natural environment includes, but is not limited to, corrosion, chemical contamination, extreme temperatures, humidity, rain, dirt, ice, and abrasion. The traditional approach is to have each power-consuming accessory completely self-contained, each with its own batteries. However, the weight of the batteries in all of the power-consuming accessories creates an imbalance in the weapon and adds a significant amount of weight to the weapon. That, coupled with the cost of provisioning numerous types of batteries renders self-contained accessories a poor choice.
Therefore, the provision of a common power source is a preferred solution. The Powered Rail must have a method of electrically connecting the power-consuming accessory to a common power source which is operationally associated with the weapon. The implementation of a common power source must be done in a manner to maintain balance of the weapon for ease of use and also simplicity of re-provisioning the batteries in the common power source. In addition, there must be a mechanism to enable the user to control the delivery of power to the power-consuming accessories.